Pune: Caste Certificate Scrutiny panel official arrested for ‘taking bribe’

The Pune unit of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a 40-year-old Deputy Commissioner from the State Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee for allegedly demanding Rs 8 lakh and accepting a Rs 1.9 lakh bribe to endorse a caste certificate. In a raid conducted at his house, the ACB has seized Rs 1.28 crore cash, officials said.

The Pune ACB received a complaint from a 32-year-old man saying that Nitin Chandrakant Dhage — a Class I officer posted as Deputy Commissioner from the State Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee — was demanding a bribe to endorse the validity of his wife’s caste certificate. The bribe amount was later negotiated to Rs 3 lakh, police said.

Late Friday night, a trap was laid and Dhage was arrested red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1.9 lakh, police said. A raid was then conducted at Dhage’s house in which Rs 1.28 crore cash along with property documents, together valued at Rs 2.8 crore were seized, said Shrihari Patil, Deputy Superintendent of Police.